Anomaly
by AndSoTheStarsSwallowedMeWhole
Summary: "You've doomed the world Hemingway. Are you happy now?" She all but spat at him. Opening his eyes once more George found himself looking up at the ceiling to avoid meeting her gaze as he gave a soft but audible, "Yes." Only in hindsight would they come to realize what he had done to the subjects in the mazes by throwing in another variable.
1. Prologue

**Heads up! This story, since it is my own plot, will contain some very minor detail changes in order to develop it in the fashion I'd like to! None of these will be drastic but I thought I should warn you all! Please enjoy!**

**(Disclaimer: All rights go to Mister James Dashner)**

Prologue

Rage.

White-hot rage coursed through the man's veins as he looked down the staircase onto his coworkers below. They were all shrouded in white lab coats, rushing about carrying various items, all labeled with the stamp W.I.C.K.E.D.

A cruel smirk twisted onto his thin lips as he stopped for a moment to take in the sight of the organized madness. They were all trying so _hard_. It was rather amusing in the sense that soon it would all be for nothing.

Descending into the madness he tried to calm his rage as he grabbed his identifying badge from his immaculate lab coat pocket.

_George Hemingway_, it read, _Head of Intelligence Research_. Accompanying these words was a giant number three, showing his clearance level. He scoffed at the badge he had once been so proud to wear.

"10 minutes to launch," an automated voice called to the buildings' residents, "10 minutes to launch."

George's eyes narrowed at the announcement as he realized he had less time then he thought. Breezing passed his colleagues he approached two masked men holding rather large guns, blocking a set of large metal doors.

"Clearance." One of the men barked out in a demanding tone rather than one of questioning.

Flashing them his badge they moved just enough to let him squeeze by awkwardly into the room. The space was larger than that of the room he'd come from, with worse lighting and two large, ominous elevators that were being filled by three men as he entered the room.

With a rather loud clearing of his throat George gained the attention of the room; trying to seem like the boss he knew he appeared to be he spoke with a false air of confidence. "Once you've finished with the supplies I will be the one to inject the patients and board them."

Two of the men nodded enthusiastically and continued packing the supplies, glad to get to leave a few minutes early, while the last man stopped and looked at George. The suspicion was clear on his face as he came forward. "What's this about Hemingway? We've never needed a white coat in here for that."

It wasn't a question but George answered it as such. "New policy Paige put in, I'm sorry McCoy, it's just as much of a hassle for me as it is for you."

The suspicion wasn't cleared from the man's face but he gave a short nod before helping move the very last of the supplies into the elevators.

"It's all yours Hemingway!" one of the men called happily as he passed by George and gave him a rough clap on the back.

The second man passed by, exerting the same joy as the first, leaving the third man, McCoy, to follow up as the rear.

"The injection to administer is over there in the case. Are you sure you don't need me to stay and load them up for you?" the suspicious gleam in his eye was back as he stopped just a foot away from George.

Trying not to let his irritation with McCoy's caution show, George gave him a tight-lipped smile. "I'll be fine. I've administered my fair share of shots over the years."

With one last hesitant nod McCoy left the room and the job to George.

"5 minutes to launch. 5 minutes to launch." Blared the intercom.

Letting his irritation out with a sigh he moved towards the case. He blindly walked over and set up the two shots as his thoughts returned to ones of rage; they had all lied to him. Looked him in the eye and told him she was immune, told him she was safe and wouldn't be harmed. But now he knew the truth. He'd seen her brain scans and he saw it, saw the little black speck that would grow, and grow until it overwhelmed her fragile mind and turned her into a monster.

They had no right to withhold that information. She was his daughter. And he deserved to know.

Somewhere in the recesses of his mind he knew they had done it to keep him working, keep him oblivious and motivated, but all rationality had flown out of his mind when he saw that little speck. Now he was just a bitter, rage-filled man who felt the need for revenge.

And he knew just what to exact his revenge upon. They had doomed his baby girl by releasing the virus in the first place, and now he would doom W.I.C.K.E.D.'s baby in return; the trials.

The higher ups had always been very adamant that they keep the boys and girls separate as a way to control the brain patterns of the test subjects. Combining the sexes would lead to hormonal changes amongst the subjects that would make it harder to study the killzone, and thus harder to find a cure. But it didn't matter anymore. His daughter was infected. And he knew better than anyone as the Head of Intelligence Research that all their research was done in vain. There was nothing they could do to stop this. They didn't have the proper resources; there was nothing to try and cure the virus with. Studying these kids' brains was a long shot as it was, but it had been 2 years and they hadn't come any closer to a solution from when they began the trials.

All of his research, all of his time and effort, had been for nothing. He knew now that it was hopeless. There was no cure, not for this. All of W.I.C.K.E.D.'s so-called 'research' would go to waste, but the human race needed to believe that someone somewhere was looking for a cure. So here they stood, running tests that would lead them nowhere while all of humanity crumbled outside their little façade.

He wouldn't have it. Not anymore. He refused to standby as innocent kids were hurt searching for the impossible.

Knowing that W.I.C.K.E.D. would only end the tests if something went massively wrong in the plans, he formed his strategy to do just that. He took the two shots he prepared over to the unconscious, unfamiliar bodies lying on the gurneys off to the side of the room. After giving both the girl and the boy one shot each he proceeded to roll the gurneys one after the other towards the elevators before unceremoniously rolling each of them off of the gurneys and into the elevators.

He didn't feel much sympathy for the kids as they wouldn't be in the trials for long after W.I.C.K.E.D. decided to call them off on the grounds of inconclusive data. However even without this sympathy, he did feel a sense of sorrow as he looked upon their calm, blissfully unaware faces.

"1 minute to launch. 1 minute to launch."

"You will be the glorious death of W.I.C.K.E.D." he told the unconscious kids as he sent them up in different paths, the boy to Group B and the girl to Group A, knowing full well this was the incorrect pattern he was supposed to follow.

He watched in bliss as the elevators chugged slowly towards the top, all the while hearing a faint alarm blaring the new arrival of another subject into the mazes. He didn't know how long he stood listening to the elevators making their climb, but the noise was soon joined by the distant calls of the two in the elevators screaming for help.

A few minutes later and he stopped hearing both the screams and the elevator altogether. Another, louder alarm soon replaced the first one letting George know he had been discovered.

He gave no signal that he recognized when the guards and several of his colleagues burst into the room, or that he noticed when they tackled him to the ground.

Feeling the rough tightness of handcuffs being thrust onto his folded wrists he let out a mad-sounding cackle. "You're too late! All of you! The trials are ruined and there is no cure!"

George continued spewing similar phrases as he was led out of the room and towards a fierce-looking, blonde woman who seemed as if all she wanted in the world was to strangle him.

"You've doomed the world Hemingway. Are you happy now?" She all but spat at him.

Knowing the woman was not ignorant to the research's inconclusive data he closed his eyes to try and reign in his absolute fury. Opening his eyes once more George found himself looking up at the ceiling to avoid meeting her gaze as he gave a soft but audible, "Yes."

All the woman could do was stare after him with disgust and anger as he was dragged down the corridor. Pressing into the Bluetooth in her ear she called out to the secretary of the building, "Mandatory meeting for all head staff. No exceptions. We have something to decide."

With the words barely having left her mouth she turned on her overly large heels and stomped up the stairs George had descended not minutes ago.


	2. The Little Lamb

**There are quite a few concepts I will be using from both the book and the movie but I will be using a bit more of the movie's concepts because I honestly found myself liking the film's portrayal more than that of the books'. I think it was the fact that I found the characters much more likable in the film. Regardless sorry about the late update! I was working and there was a new walking dead episode lol! Anywho onwards onto reading!**

Anomaly

The first thing she noticed upon coming to was the sound of metal whirring and clanking around her. The sound was grating on her ears, and as she opened her eyes she was met with a perturbing darkness all around her. Standing a bit too quickly she wobbled on her feet as she peered into the darkness in vain, trying to remember how she got here.

Was it a person who had put her here? Maybe she was in trouble? Was she being punished for something?

Her questions were soon drowned out by a distant alarm getting closer and closer the more the room moved. Fear overtook her mind as she heard the alarm, and she started shouting, desperate for someone to hear her and help her. Why couldn't she remember anything?!

"Help! Someone please help me! Why can't I remember anything! Please!" her cries didn't last long as she quickly realized no one was going to help her.

Whatever reason she had been put here for, it wasn't an accident, and no one was going to help her.

Feeling around the room for anything that could help her she noticed the room was rather small and there were crates of various sizes leaned up against the walls. Feeling atop the crates for anything useful she ran her hand across a piece of metal with some sort of handle on the end. Grabbing the somewhat dull object she tried to back herself into a corner so nothing could sneak up on her. With her sight gone, the feeling of the cool walls on her back and shoulders was a soothing one. She didn't know what she was going to come across when she got to the top of this impossibly long tunnel but she would be prepared for the worst.

Gripping the piece of metal she felt the room halt with a large jolt. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she realized she was about to meet whoever had thrown her in here, and consequently stolen her memories. The top of the room opened and she saw sunlight. The overly bright light struck her mind in a way she didn't realize it could, as she couldn't remember ever having seen the sun before, and yet she knew what it was called.

_Carrie._

The name had edged itself into her mind and the realization that it was her_ own_ name sent her mind into a constant buzz of hope that she would remember more as time went on.

With her eyes watering from not looking away from the brightness she began blinking rapidly to try and clear them. The alarm that Carrie had stopped noticing had ceased and it left everything in an eerie silence as she looked up to see faces upon faces staring back at her.

"The Greenie's a girl?!" someone shouted in shock.

Nothing was connecting in Carrie's mind as she stood paralyzed, holding onto her crude weapon, that she now saw was a shovel, looking out at all of the faces. All of the _male_ faces.

And all of a sudden the makeshift weapon she had grabbed seemed useless as she suddenly felt like a lamb sent to slaughter. Was this some kind of sick offering? Were they going to maim her, sacrifice her?

The brief silence that had followed the boy's exclamation was soon over as all of the boy's began voicing their thoughts, opinions and questions.

"Is this a joke?"

"Let me see!"

"What are we supposed to do with a girl?

"Maybe we'll get girls from now on!"

"I don't mind! She's much prettier than any of you klunkheads on your best days!"

"Bloody hell!"

"Dibs! I said it first!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" she cried desperately over the boys' loud voices. That last comment had her anxiety reaching unrealistic heights.

A strong-looking, and rather attractive dark-skinned boy who looked more man than boy came forward and looked down into the box towards the girl. Looking behind himself he addressed the riled crowd of boys. "Listen up! She doesn't seem to know any more than any of us did on our first day, so how about you all slim it and give her a bit of space?"

It was phrased like a question but followed like an order as all of the boys shut up and took a few steps back. As his last words suddenly sunk in she realized that they were in fact _boys,_ there was no way they could have taken her memory, especially not if they had all had a similar experience to this as well.

After the boys retreated a bit he turned and squatted to better talk with the girl. "My name's Alby. Do you remember yours?" He asked calmly to try and get her to relax a bit and maybe drop the shovel she was holding.

"Carrie," she answered quickly before adding an afterthought onto it, "Where am I?"

Alby smiled, what he hoped was a welcoming smile. "How about you drop that shovel, we'll pull you out, and you can see for yourself yeah?"

Extending his hand down into the pit he tried to continue looking reassuring as he waited. Carrie looked back and forth between the shovel and Alby's hand trying to decide if it was safe to drop it. With what he had said earlier towards the boys it _seemed_ he had her wellbeing in mind, and she really _was _curious as to where she was…

Setting down the shovel on a nearby crate she gave a small nod and grasped Alby's hand. With a swift tug he had himself standing tall and Carrie scrambling her way out of the box. On the way up she found herself almost tripping as she stood to the face the crowd. This left her felling a mix of embarrassment at her struggle, and fear as she realized the shovel wouldn't have done any good even if she kept it, what with there being so many boys.

Forgetting she had agreed to come up in order to see where she was she kept her eyes on the boys encircling her. "How many of you are there?"

The question came out a little shaky as she darted her eyes from face to face.

"19, counting you," Came the short reply from Alby.

"Are there any girls here?"

"Besides you?" Alby paused before sighing and answering. "No."

Letting out the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding she realized she felt sort of faint. From what she could tell from the boy's faces they were ranging anywhere from excited and nervous to disappointed and reserved she was there; she didn't want to faint and make their opinions of her worse. She didn't want to be seen as weak solely because she was a girl.

Blowing passed what she had just learned she tried to lose the dizzy feeling in her head by looking out at the place she had been brought to.

"Welcome to the Glade Greenie." She heard a boy with short hair and broad shoulders in the front of the circle say to her with a sort of sarcastic tone of voice.

"The Glade?" She questioned, looking to Alby who seemed to be the leader of this place.

Looking up to the sky Alby put his hands on his hips before saying what he needed to say. "Look it's too late in the day to take you on the tour and we need to unload the supplies before the sun goes down. So for right now I just need you to keep it together and do as I say alright?"

Irritated with her confusion and lack of information, but too worried what they'd do if she refused, she clenched her jaw and nodded.

Seeing her agree he turned to the group of boys still standing in a circle around the two of them. He squared his shoulders and stood up fully before raising his voice in a way that made it deeper and more menacing, "Now I'm only gonna say this once. No one. Touches her. Ya hear?"

Receiving many a nod from the boys he gave a short nod himself before gesturing to a tall, slightly lanky, blonde boy off to the side. "Newt, take her to the Homestead. I'll meet you there in a bit. We've got some things to discuss."

Newt stepped forwards with a broad smile on his face, "Come along love. Your new life as a Glader is about to start."

**Hey guys! Sorry about the wait on this! As a treat for being so patient I'll be posting chapter 2 tomorrow evening! And as always reviews are welcome!**


	3. One Too Many Problems

**As promised my update! :) Also a heads up this won't be romantic until much later on and I'm not giving up who she'll be romantic with. Please feel free to guess who though!**

Anomaly

Chancellor Ava Paige sat, massaging her temples at the head of the long table in the conference room waiting, as patiently as she could, for her staff heads to show up. And they did, one by one; each of them silently taking their previously assigned seats. The ominous, empty seat sitting directly to the left of the Chancellor, and its implications were not lost on anyone. Not looking up from her head massage, Paige began the impromptu meeting.

"I'm sure you've all already heard, but a certain mister George Hemingway has just thrown all of our efforts down the shitter in the press of a button." Ava hissed out between clenched teeth.

After hearing this all of the heads sitting at the table had alarmed looks plastered onto their faces, but oddly enough it was at the fact that Ava Paige was losing her cool rather than the actual problem that had them frightened. If the Chancellor was distraught enough to publically show her worry than the circumstances were certainly dire.

"Group A's subject is with Group B and vice versa. It's too late to bring them back down; they've both left the elevators and made contact with their groups."

With an almost pained sigh Paige stopped rubbing her temples and looked up at her most trusted employees. A fire entered her eyes within a split second and she snapped, "_Solutions_. Now."

That was all she needed to say before each of the heads began brainstorming ideas- most of them being too ridiculous to even consider.

"We could just take them out and do another Swipe on everyone?"

"It won't work; a second Swipe will damage the brains we are trying to study." A man at the end of the table said, irritable at the idiotic suggestion.

"We could start the trials over?"

"We don't have the time, nor the funds." Paige responded before adding in a growl. "If you don't have anything intelligent to offer up than keep your mouths _shut_."

A spectacled man directly to the right of Chancellor Paige cleared his throat, gaining the attention of the room, "We don't have the means to change what's already happened. We're going to have to go along with it and see how this all plays out. The variable of _hormones_," he said the word hormone like it was a filthy disease, "was taken out just as a precaution. We don't know how it will affect the subjects, or if it will even alter our results. For now we just need to wait."

Paige looked up towards the ceiling in annoyance, "I've never been the patient type," she muttered angrily before looking back at the people around her, "Fine. We will wait, and we will observe. I need to see any and every brain scan we take and if you find _any_ change at _all_, you contact me immediately."

"Miss Paige?" a timid-looking woman called from the farthest end of the table; her hand raised as if she were still in school.

"What is it Samantha?" Paige snapped.

"We-well I just was wondering what was going to happen to George?"

Silence filled the room as Paige gave a soft, but threatening laugh. "Oh darling, he's already dead."

OoOoOoOoO

Newt's pace towards the 'Homestead' as Alby called it was an unnaturally fast one that left little time for Carrie to take in her surroundings. She noticed the large walls, each with an ominous entrance, the small cluster of trees in one corner, and the rickety-looking building she was heading to now.

The building (if you could call it that) was mostly one level with a bit of progress made on the upper half- probably holding 2 to 3 rooms. She could see glass panels thrown in amongst the wooden walls and this made her feel someone better about going into the worrisome structure. She knew it made no sense, but being able to see a way out would make her feel much safer.

Almost to the door, Carrie noticed that Newt seemed to be favoring his right foot when he walked. It wasn't very noticeable but she picked up on it from the way he leaned his shoulders into the limp. Deciding not to mention it, Carrie breached another topic instead.

"Do I get to know why I'm here now?"

"Why?" Newt gave her a bewildered glance as he opened the door and trudged in, almost making the door slam back in her face. Seeing what he'd inadvertently done he gave a sheepish smile and a quick, "Sorry," before he continued addressing her earlier question, "Odd way of puttin' it, but I don't know _why_ we're put here, just that we are here and we need to make the best of it yeah?"

"You mean you all don't know why you're here?! You're just in here and you haven't got any clue as to how, or who put you here?!" Her voice was rising in pitch with each question as she followed him into the building.

"Well it's a lot easier said than done to get information when you don't have your memories now isn't it?" He replied back, seemingly amused with her panicking.

She paused in her strides, causing Newt to do the same and turn back to her. "You mean none of you remember anything either?"

"Look I'm leavin' the rest for Alby on his tour okay? No more questions; they'll all be answered in their own right, over time." As he gave his answer a smile came onto his face to try and show he wasn't purposely trying to piss her off by avoiding her questions.

It still pissed her off regardless.

"Fine."

"Good that." He said before twirling, surprisingly gracefully, to continue his journey towards the stairs in the corner.

"Good that." She muttered quietly, mocking him in her anger at the situation.

"What was that?" He asked, glancing back with a smirk on his face.

Throwing her hands behind her body she cried, "Nothing!" in a very unconvincing manner.

Letting out a hearty laugh Newt turned forwards once more and started up the stairs they had reached. Carrie allowed herself a small smile when she saw him turn back towards the front; _maybe things will be okay here_, she thought to herself.

The stairs creaked and groaned underneath the pair and Carrie had to resist the urge to turn tail and run downstairs and out the door to safe ground.

Reaching the top of the stairs did nothing to ease her fears as she found herself in a tiny, uneven hallway that was rather cramped with just the two of them. With only two doors to go into Newt began to head towards the farther one. Seeing light come from under the door on the other door she couldn't help but ask, "What's in that room?"

"Currently? An empty hammock and some dirty clothes that need cleaning! Luckily it's lacking in the usual klunkhead of a Runner."

It didn't exactly answer her question but she didn't really feel like pushing for information only to get told nothing again.

Walking into the door Newt had just entered, she found herself in a small room with a hammock and a table with some chairs.

"Have a seat if you like." Newt said with a gesture towards the chair opposite the one he had just plopped himself into.

Doing as she was told she found herself sitting down right as the Alby came walking through the door, with a gleam of sweat on his brow, as if he'd rushed here.

"Alright Greenie, tour'll be in the morning. For now me and you," he said gesturing towards Newt, "Need to decide what to do about sleeping quarters for girly here," he said with another, almost flippant, gesture directed towards Carrie this time.

"Well she can't sleep out with the boys; it'd be a bloody madhouse!" Newt said calmly as if what he'd just said wasn't ominous and foreboding.

"I'd thought that was pretty obvious, but we don't have any spare rooms in the Homestead for her and I highly doubt anybody'll be wanting to give up their room any time soon to go join the boys outside."

"Right that," Newt called back before stretching back a bit, "We could have her share a room with one of the guys? At least until we could have the builders make her one?"

With a sigh Alby closed his eyes and nodded, "Looks like that's the only solution for now, we can't exactly just build her a room overnight."

Carrie, feeling rather burdensome after their conversation, forced herself to not yell at the two of them. They were trying to look out for her, she knew, but the way they made her feel like some unwanted piece of garbage in the process was not exactly welcome.

"Well there's no space for another hammock or sleeping bag in here and she doesn't really know any of the other Gladers yet so that just leaves-" Alby left off his sentence before giving a rather forceful look towards Newt.

"Bloody hell I get it already mate! Jeez no need for death glares!" Newt exclaimed before folding his arms over his chest and pouting in a rather adorable manner.

"Good that!" Alby grinned at his accomplishment before he proceeded to shoo the two of them out of the room, "Get some sleep Greenie, girl or not you've got a big day ahead of you tomorrow!"

The door slammed behind Newt and Carrie as they found themselves in the cramped hallway once again, "So what exactly does this mean for me then?"

Newt gave her a rather goofy grin as he wrapped a sweaty arm around her shoulders, "You'll be lucky enough to share a room with the most charming, handsome, wonderfully a-"

"It's you isn't it? I'm rooming with you," Carrie dead-panned, even though she was quite amused with his antics.

Dropping his arm from his shoulders he pouted, "Aw come on! You're no fun!" He whined.

Letting out a little laugh Carrie gave a grand gesture towards the stairs, "After you oh gracious one!"

The grin returned to his face; she had the feeling he did that a lot, grinning that is.

"Now that's more like it!" he called before galloping down the stairs in what he surely thought was a 'fancy' manner.

_Yeah_, she thought with a grin as she followed him down the stairs in a similarly hilarious fashion, _I think it'll be okay here_.

**And there it is! Longer than my usual! Racking up to about 1700 words! ****Also I'd just like to say that as I write this I won't always be moving things along this slowly but I felt the need to showcase her beginning in a rather in depth manner. Thank you for all the views! And a shoutout to **_**ptl4ever419**_** for reviewing! It means so much to me that anyone could like this enough to review! Hopefully I can keep you all interested!**


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